An 87-year-old woman has been cautioned by police after punching the mayor of a seaside town on the chin.

After years in which the two women have quarrelled in a neighbourhood dispute, Sylvia Hyde took matters into her own hands. She went to the home of Linda Bladon, the mayor of Teignmouth, Devon, after hearing rumours that she had been using foul language about her.

Carrying a bar of soap in one hand and making a fist of the other, Mrs Hyde knocked on the door.

When the mayor answered, Mrs Hyde handed her the bar of soap to "wash your mouth out" before raising her fist and punching Mrs Bladon on the chin.

The mayor, who is in her 50s, was left shaken but unhurt and called the police after Mrs Hyde had left. Local police inspector Jon Perry said: "Mrs Hyde was given an official caution for assault after she admitted punching the mayor. We hope this will now calm down and a truce be called because we have no desire to go round arresting people in their 80s.

Mrs Hyde, however, said she had been provoked. "I told the police I did it and I have no regrets," she said yesterday.